Customer Reviews

The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson (Scholastic Biography)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ann McGovern has written an easily read biography for beginning readers of a woman who made historical history at the time of the Revolutionary War. Deborah disguised herself as a male soldier in the War so that she could seek adventure. She learned the hardships of the War first hand and kept her identity hidden until she was wounded. The illustrations in the story are a delightful addition which allows a young reader to stay interested in the text. I believe my son who is a reluctant reader will enjoy this book and learn about an interesting role that one women played in our countries history.

I read this as a child in the early 80s. The local librarian recommended it to me and I absolutely loved it! I still remember it after all these years and I highly recommend it!

My mother originally bought this book for me in first grade because my teacher recommended that I start reading "chapter books" since I had done well on reading exams. In addition, my mother identified with the title character because they have the same name. What my mom thought would be a good introduction to more complex reading actually began (or sparked) my feminist beliefs and lifestyle. I still remember feeling that I could do ANYTHING -- regardless of my sex, race, or age -- after reading this book and highly recommend it for young girls.

Response to Literature: The Secret Soldier
By Edith, Marisela, Joseph, & Rodolfo
This book is about a woman named Deborah Sampson who wants to have adventure. She is 18 years old. The woman wants to join the army. She had to dress like a man. Deborah Sampson had to change her name to Robert Shurtliff. That was her name in the army. She served for three years in the army.
Deborah had been shot one time in the leg and one time in the neck. Deborah had to struggle with many things. She married a farmer. She had three kids, and then she adopted one boy.
She had to leave her children because she was going all around the world. She talked about her adventure and what she had done in the army.

It is about a girl who has to leave her mom because she can't take care of her. So she goes and lives with a family. The guardians said she could not go to school because school was only for boys. So she taught her self from the boys textbooks. When she got older where she could leave their house she became a schoolteacher. In the mean while she was working on her outfit for becoming a soldier in the army. I believe this is a good book for girls. I think that it tells girls that they are as equal as the boys and they can do anything that they set their mind to. She has some conflict in this book. The first conflict was that she could not go to school, because school was for boys. The second conflict was that she wanted to be in the army so she dressed up as a man in order to be in the army.

I bought this book to use as part of my unit on the Revolutionary War. It is a good book to use with 4th grade students. They were very interested in the description of life during the Revolutionary War and how Deborah Sampson pretended to be boy. My unit was about learning life lessons, and this book was good for that.

Written in short entertaining paragraphs which I can only assumed where formed from Deborah Sampson diary as the book states she kept one most of her life after she learned to read. Deborah was known to be a very smart child and as a adult even taught as a school teacher for a while until she became eager to travel the world. She saw her chance in joining the American Revolution dressed as a man. She even fooled her own mother dressed up.

The book is easy to read and entertaining with drawings of Deborah and her history. I think it is an excellent read for children to learn how far women have gotten to this day and in Deborah's time period. I would be interested to see more books about her. I do not know if any books are out there in adult format but there should be if her diary is around.

The Secret Soldier is a biography of Deborah Sampson, who pretended to be a male soldier because she was destined for adventure. The setting was Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War. I like this book because I like the plot and I like how Deborah got away with being a soldier but she was a girl. My favorite part is when she was in a coma and the doctor found out that she was a girl and didn't tell anyone except the general. I recommend this book to my friends Mika and Wilson because they love the army.

--Simone

I purchased this book for my 8year old granddaughter for her 3rd grade Living Musuem project. She needed to become Deborah Sampson for the presentation. This book gave her lots off info on Deborah and the times she lived in. The book is paperback and short but full of information. It is illustrated and that helped my grandaughter to get a good insight as to how she looked and acted. She loved the book and her 6year old sister wants her own copy now. I was very pleased not only with the book but also with how quickly it arrived. The whole family enjoyed listening to my granddaughter reading this book to us and then acting out her version of how Deborah would act. She received an A+ and shared the book with the class. I have bought another copy to give to the school library.

I think that The Secret Soldier was a decent book. However, I think that the book was too short and vague. It did not explain how Debrah made the clothes for war or prepare for the war. It also did not go into detail about what she did at Mrs. Thacher's. If I wrote the book, I would go into detail to help the reader "paint" the picture of the scene in their mind. I know that I learned a lot from reading this book. For example, I knew that war was hard, but I think that this helped me understand the hardships of war a lot more. In addition to this, The Secret Soldier went along with what we are reading very nicely (we are learning about the Revolution) As you can see, I do like the Secret Soldier, but I think that it is a book for a younger child.